Job 25:1-6

BILDAD'S REPLY THE GREATNESS OF GOD

(vv.1-3)

The brevity of Bildad's reply is evidence that he had no answer to Job's predicament. He confines himself rather to fundamental facts that were important for all mankind, verses 1-3 dealing briefly with God's supremacy and power. "Dominion and fear belong to Him" (v.2). The greatness of His dominion is such as to inspire a wholesome fear in every creature. This was nothing new to Job, for he had insisted on this himself. "He makes peace in His high places." This peace was certainly not on earth, as Job was experiencing. When Christ was born, the angels announced, "on earth peace" (Luke 2:13), but peace did not follow and has not followed on earth since then. Why not? Because mankind rejected the very One who is "the Prince of Peace".

Then when the Lord was on the verge of His great sacrifice of Calvary, as He entered Jerusalem, the crowd who gathered were moved by God to say, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" (Luke 19:37). Though earth refused Him, heaven very soon received Him (after His resurrection), and anyone today who wants true peace will find it only in looking to the Prince of Peace in heaven. The day will yet come when the Lord Jesus will establish peace on earth, but not until He returns in judgment, to judge every evil thing that raises its head against the Lord of glory. Of course, Bildad did not understand in what way the Lord "makes peace in His high places," but how good it is for us to understand it today!

"Is there any, number to His armies?" (v.3). The Lord Jesus assured His disciples that if He asked the Father, He would provide him with "more than twelve legions of angels" (Mt 25:53). Do angels have power? One angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrians in one night! (2 Kings 19:35).

Also, "Upon whom does His light not arise?" Just as the sun rises on all the earth (Psalms 19:6), so the Lord Jesus is the true light who, coming into the world, shed His light upon everyone (John 1:9). Of course Bildad had no knowledge of this, and little realised that God moved him to speak in this way

THE NOTHINGNESS OF MAN

(vv.4-6)

Since God is so great, "what is man?" Can men possibly be righteous before God? Can one born of a woman be pure? Naturally there is no hope of man ever attaining such righteousness and purity, for man is a totally corrupted sinner Bildad however was not applying this humbling lesson to himself, but to Job! But we all need to learn this as regards ourselves. The New Testament supplies the answer to this serious question. Man can be righteous before God, but only by faith in the Lord Jesus who has suffered for our sins. Righteousness is not ours by nature, but is imputed to believers only because of their faith in Christ (Romans 4:20).